The Baltic Dry Index, the Baltic Exchange’s leading dry bulk shipping index, closed on a high note yesterday due to increased demand for Capesize and Panamax vessels.
The global index, which takes rates for all types of ships into account, including the smallest (Supramax), was up 93 points this week, or 3.6%, to 2,645 points. This is the third consecutive weekly rise.
The Capesize index rose 274 points (by 7.6%), to its highest in three weeks, at 3,884 points. Average daily earnings for these vessels, which carry 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose $2,272, to $32,210.
The panamax index was also up, though only by 9 points, to 2,291 points and breaking a long string of weekly downturns. Average daily earnings for these vessels, which carry 60,000 to 70,000 tonne cargoes of coal or grain, however, fell by $1,575 to $24.072. The Supramax index increased 4 points to 2,263.
Translation by Giles Foster
